Perfect Christmas
by Helana Marie
Summary: Frankie&Mel. The two spend Christmas together...is their love for life, or just for Christmas? Will contain slashyness in future chapters.
1. A Breakout Of Chicken Pox

Chapter One – A Breakout of Chicken Pox

It was an ordinary Monday morning, on an ordinary winter's morning when Frankie walked into work. It was in fact Christmas Eve (so not so ordinary then) and it was Frankie's last day at work before she got her well earned Christmas holiday! She hadn't planned much, just a dinner with her sister, Anna, and niece, Helena, and then presents all 'round! Oh yes, and she was, of course, planning to be very drunk and disorderly on New Years Eve with her old mates from Uni. The lot of them were getting together in Hyde Park to drink as much as they could and see New Year in with a bang…or a headache, whichever they preferred.

Mel also wandered into work that morning, in an even worse mood than the day before. For her, Christmas would be a lonely time. Her family lived too far away for her to visit them, and all her friends lived up there too. She kept in contact by phone and email (which had resulted in many strange midnight phone calls when one or other of them was feeling lonely) but it wasn't the same. She sighed softly to herself and flopped down at her desk.

'Feeling miserable?' asked Frankie, breezing past the gloomy detective on her way to the coffee machine. She was in desperate need of a caffeine overdose before she could even contemplate cleaning out her stuff out of the lab for her holidays!

'You don't say,' muttered Mel sarcastically, ignoring Frankie's seasonal happiness.

Frankie fetched herself a coffee and Mel a hot chocolate, and proceeded to seat herself with great effort on Mel's desk.

'Now, what is wrong?' she asked, putting on her agony aunt tone and wrapping one arm around her friend. 'Come on, you know you can tell Auntie Francesca.'

Mel giggled, unable to stop herself! Frankie smiled sweetly at the pretty young woman, noticing, not for the first time, how cute Mel was when she smiled like that. She pushed away the thought, putting it down to the fact that she was just in good spirits and the season of goodwill, etc… Besides, Mel wouldn't feel the same way, even if Frankie decided she felt _that way _about little miss Amelia.

'So, what's up?' asked Frankie, serious this time.

'It's just…Christmas,' sighed Mel. 'I miss my friends, my parents, the presents, all those little things that made Christmas special. It's so lonely in my flat, you know?'

And indeed, Frankie did know. Her own flat was often so lonely that she couldn't bear to go home at the end of the day; instead she pretended that she had some urgent work to finish and would stay for hours in her lab, often with Mel for company. Mel insisted that she just didn't like to see Frankie working alone, but both women knew that the truth was that Mel was lonely too. They often had girly chats late into the night, talking about serious topics as well as what kind of lip gloss was best for your lips.

Frankie gave Mel a hug and a sympathetic smile as Boyd and Grace strolled into the office. Spence followed swiftly behind them. None of the team planned to do any work today – after all, it was practically Christmas! Instead, Grace had bought in some decorations to decorate the office nicely for when they all returned after New Year. You didn't necessarily have to have Christmas on the 25th of December, after all! The team were planning to have their Christmas on the 2nd of January, but all the decorations had to go up now because they wouldn't have time on their first day back.

Spence grabbed a handful of tinsel and wrapped it around Mel, laughing all the time.

'My little angel,' he joked, throwing a piece of tinsel to Frankie too. He smiled as she wrapped the tinsel around herself and wrapped her arms around Mel. 'My little angels,' Spence proclaimed joyfully, snapping a picture of the two of them together.

'When you lot have finished playing dressing up, there's a tree to decorate!' yelled Grace, trying to contain her giggles.

Frankie all but skipped over to the tree in her desperateness to be the one to place the angel on top of the tree.

'Now, I'm afraid we don't have an angel,' said Boyd, snorting quietly to himself. 'So instead, we have a model of David Beckham, complete with moving foot for the top of the tree!'

Frankie tripped over her own feet and went flying into a pile of tinsel, hysterical as she was. As she clambered, a little unsteadily, to her feet, she felt strangely nauseous… She swayed, reaching out to hold onto the chair, her head spinning around like she was on a roundabout.

'What the hell…' she murmured, falling to the floor, banging her head on the chair.

Mel gazed at her lying on the floor, a look of astonishment on her pretty face. 'What…' she stuttered, crouching down next to Frankie.

'Somebody had better take Frankie home,' said Grace seriously. 'I think she might have a fever or something.'

'I'll take her,' nodded Mel, heaving Frankie up and dragging her towards the door.

Spence dissolved into hysterics before rushing over to help Mel. 'We'll get this done, you stay with her,' he ordered. 'And give her lots of soup!'

'What?' shrieked Mel, almost dropping Frankie. 'Why does she need soup!'

'Who knows!' shrugged Spence, 'but my mum always gave me soup when I was sick! Have fun looking after the invalid!'

Mel pulled a face and bundled Frankie into her chair, driving as quick as she could to Frankie's place. She reasoned that Frankie would much rather have her own DVD's to watch while she was sick, and Mel only lived round the corner anyhow. Frankie was coming round from her knock on the head by this time, and moaned softly to herself as Mel parked the car.

'Frankie?' asked Mel. 'Can you hear me sweetie?'

Frankie nodded and rubbed her aching skull. She opened her mouth to form a sentence, possibly one involving lots of swear words and much sarcasm, but failed in producing anything. She allowed Mel to help her out of the car and up the steps to her flat, making soft moaning noises all the time. Mel didn't need to be a doctor to realise that her friend was sick with something, although she had yet to discover what. That was possibly where it would have been useful for Mel to be a doctor. Mel sat Frankie down on the sofa and parked her own backside next to her friend's.

'How do you feel?' she asked, feeling Frankie's forehead.

'Like some fucking great big elephant sat on my skull and the proceeded to jump up and down on me,' replied Frankie, who had apparently recovered her ability to be sarcastic, no matter what the circumstance. 'Why the hell are you stroking my forehead?' she added, as an afterthought, although not really caring why the beautiful detective appeared to be touching her rather intimately.

'Well, my sweetheart,' began Mel, as though about to break terrible news to Frankie. 'You collapsed in the office so I brought you home, which would explain the elephant jumping on your skull, and I think you have chicken pox.'

If Frankie had had the energy to move, she would have jumped up and screamed with horror. As it was, she opened her mouth in shock and disgust and murmured something indistinguishable about drinking and how the fuck was she supposed to enjoy Christmas with no alcohol? She then proceeded to attempt a coherent sentence.

'My Helena,' she waffled inanely. 'Anna. Helena. Dinner. Here.'

Okay, so not really a coherent sentence, but it was close enough for Mel to understand.

'Who is Helena?' she asked, bemused by Frankie's apparently delusional waffling about alcohol and strange women called Helena and Anna.

'My niece,' explained Frankie, more understandable now that the elephant bouncing on her head had gone back to the zoo, where it belonged. 'Anna is my sister, Helena's mother. They are…were coming to stay here for Christmas and then I was going to get drunk in Hyde Park with my friends!'

By the time Frankie reached the end of this statement, she was positively wailing! Like a banshee. Mel wasn't used to dealing with an irate Frankie, so she simply returned to stroking Frankie's forehead, in what she hoped was a reassuring manner.

'Well, I'd better ring Anna and Helena to tell them that you have the pox and they can't come for dinner. You can email or text your friends and tell them that you're fatally diseased and are unable to get drunk in Hyde Park. Instead you can get drunk with me and my good friend, Jack Daniels, over Christmas!'

With this Mel wandered off to find a phone in all the clutter, tutting to herself about how she should really tidy up Frankie's flat. She explained first to Helena about chicken pox, although Helena seemed convinced that her precious Auntie Frankie was going to die in seven days because a lady would hop out of the TV (she had obviously been watching 'The Ring' a few too many times), and then to Anna, who was a little more understanding and told Mel to wish Frankie a happy Christmas. Frankie, meanwhile, was explaining to her friends about chicken pox and how she was unable to get drunk with them anymore. They also seemed convinced that Frankie was going to die, and so their only advice was to get drunk and hope it wasn't too painful! Needless to say, Frankie wasn't all that pleased with the advice.

'So how are you feeling now?' asked Mel, sitting next to Frankie on the sofa.

'Much worse,' replied Frankie. 'I have only you to get drunk with and I appear to have spots on my tummy!'


	2. Christmas With A Detective

_A/N - lots of thanks to xx-vikz-xx for reading this! I know this bit's really short but it needed to be put in, as they become closer friends in this part._

_Love, Helz._

Chapter Two – Christmas with a Detective

Come Christmas morning, Frankie was feeling a little chirpier and had discovered that her spots had disappeared! She had a raging temperature, but it was Christmas, so her idea of getting rid of a temperature was going out in the freezing snow to cool down. Mel threatened to tie her to a chair if she tried to leave the house, so that put paid to that idea. However, the idea of Mel tying her to a chair was somewhat appealing to Frankie!

'Did you get me a present?' asked Frankie, sitting cross-legged by her Christmas tree. 'I got you one!'

'Yes, I got you a present,' giggled Mel, the Christmas spirit infecting Mel now that she was spending the holiday with Frankie. 'But I wanna open mine first!'

Frankie tossed a parcel across the room, and snorted in mock disgust when Mel failed spectacularly to catch it. Mel ripped it open, exclaiming in joy as she pulled the toy sniffer dog out of its wrapping!

'It's for you to put on your desk so you can smell Boyd, just in case he tries to smuggle some of the hard stuff into the office!'

Mel laughed, and said: 'And what do you know about the hard stuff, Frankie?'

Frankie ignored the question, laughing it off, but Mel detected a hint of _something _that Frankie was hiding from her. For the time being, Mel let it slip, passing Frankie her present. Frankie snorted out loud when she revealed the contents of the wrapping paper. It was a nodding dog! Mel had been threatening to get Frankie one so she could tap it on the head instead of tapping the desk – a habit that never ceased to annoy poor Amelia.

Frankie placed the nodding dog on her mantelpiece, reaching across the room to hug her friend in thanks. Mel smiled just a little bit too much; touched Frankie just a little bit too intimately; and held her 'friend' just a little too long…

Soon enough the two of them were in Frankie's tiny kitchen, cooking up a feast for lunch. Mel was entirely sure that Frankie should be cooking while she had chicken pox, but since Mel had had chicken pox when she was very small, she was unlikely to remember what she had and hadn't been allowed to do. Frankie kept up the laughter and inane chatter all the while, although Mel was a little quieter than normal.

However, by the time lunch was over, Mel was back to her usual bouncy self, her mood improving for every minute she spent in Frankie's company (although she wasn't about to boost Frankie's ego anymore!). Both women spent the afternoon in the road having snowball fights like little children, laughing madly together, ignoring the stares of all the 'mature' adults in the street! It was only when Frankie's teeth started chattering and her breath became ragged and was catching in her throat that Mel insisted she go back inside and warm up.

The rest of the day was spent with the two of them curled up in Frankie's duvet on Frankie's sofa watching all the silly Christmas day films and laughing at all the cheesy lines. Mel sneaked a peek at Frankie every now and then, just to make sure she was still smiling her amazing smile. Frankie sneaked a peek at Mel every now and then, just to make sure she was still smiling her beautiful smile. That smile had been so lacking of late, and Frankie was happy just to see her best friend in the whole world (for that was what Mel had become over time) smiling again. As the films continued, so the two edged closer and closer to each other on the sofa until Frankie was entwined in Mel's open arms, held there so securely she felt she could never fall, ever again. Frankie told herself that it was just because Mel felt sorry for her; because it was Christmas and she had chicken pox. Mel told herself she was just comforting Frankie; because it was Christmas and she had chicken pox. Both women knew this wasn't true. Even if Frankie had been fit as a fiddle, she would still have been in Mel's arms, safe and secure.

'Do you think maybe we should go to bed soon?' asked Mel, glancing at the clock.

Frankie stifled a giggle at this sentence and replied, 'Nah, let's start on the alcohol!'

'Are you sure you should be drinking, what with your chicken pox and all?' asked Mel, trying to pretend she was concerned, when in reality all she wanted to do was open a bottle of something high in alcohol and get so drunk she couldn't remember her name, let alone her feelings for the woman enveloped in her arms.

Frankie ignored this comment, and instead passed Mel a glass of whiskey and told her to start drinking. Both were still going strong when the clock struck one…and two… However, both were extremely tipsy by the time the clock struck three…


	3. Drunken Confessions

_Sorry it's been such a long wait, I've been busy! Thank you Livvy Hell's Wolf for your lovely review. D The next part will be some time coming - it's stubbornly refusing to go anywhere so unless anyone fancies writing it for me, you're just gonna have to wait a while. ( Anyways, R&R. Enjoy!_

Chapter Three – Drunken Confessions

'Truth or dare?' asked Frankie, concentrating hard not to slur her words.

'No fair,' shrieked Mel! 'It's your go, not mine!'

'Fine, I chose truth,' answered Frankie, pretending to huff and sulk. Of course, pulling sulking faces _really _isn't as easy as it sounds when you're as drunk as a skunk…a very drunk skunk.

'Why did your face go all funny when I mentioned drugs earlier?' asked Mel immediately, obviously not drunk enough to have forgotten.

'It's a long story…' replied Frankie, attempting to evade the question. One look at Mel's face told her she could abseil down Canary Wharf and she'd still have to answer the question. 'Fine, okay, but it may take a while,' she began. 'I suppose it was when I was about fourteen, fifteen, that I started hanging around with the 'rough kids' from around where I lived. There was someone in their group that I really, really fancied…I suppose that was the reason I started hanging around with them. It was only when I hit sixteen that the drugs started. Every night I'd be on the street corner with them, dressed in my short skirt, trying to impress anyone who'd look at me. We drank til we couldn't remember where we lived, let alone anything about the night before. I started taking drugs to try and blank out reality…anything was better than living in the real world. Doesn't everyone feel like that at that age? I didn't even realise how bad some of the drugs were until one day I had too much of something – can't even remember what, that's how out of if I was – and ended up in hospital. They all thought I'd OD'd deliberately…it took a long time for my parents to trust me again, and even longer for them to take 'attempted suicide' off my medical notes. By then I was clean, except for the pills they gave me to cure my 'depression' and I was bright enough to know that a great big stamp saying 'attempted suicide' doesn't do much for your chances in life. I stopped taking the anti-depressants, just to prove I was fine and had never been depressed. I went on to go to uni and get the job I wanted. My parents don't talk about that period of my life, and I don't want to bring it up. Anna's younger than me, so doesn't remember much about it. I'm not going to explain to her unless she asks. That answers your question?'

'Oh, Frankie,' gasped Mel, shell-shocked. She knew Frankie would never have told her anything that personal unless she'd had a fair amount to drink, which she had. 'Why?'

Perhaps if Mel had had slightly less to drink and had slightly more common sense, she wouldn't have asked that question. But ask it she did.

'I don't know,' whispered Frankie, looking so scared and desperate that all Mel wanted to do was hold her tight. 'To be honest, I got so messed up and high that there was nothing left in my brain to run from.' But, of course, it wasn't true…Frankie knew exactly what she had been trying to escape, trying to ignore…

Mel gave up trying to resist the temptation to hug Frankie, and threw herself at the bewildered woman. Of course, Frankie wasn't about to _stop _Mel hugging her – to be fair, if a gorgeous woman suddenly threw herself at your feet, you wouldn't tell her to stop, would you?

'Oh Frankie,' sobbed Mel, unable to stop the tears running down her face. 'I'm so sorry…so sorry…sorry.'

'Mel, calm down!' yelped Frankie, slightly concerned about the amount that Mel had had to drink. She appeared to be just slightly tipsy! 'I think maybe you should lie down for a while, otherwise you're gonna have one hell of a headache tomorrow!'

However, it was at this precise moment that Mel crashed out on the floor. Frankie sighed and muttered something about people who couldn't hold their drink to herself before crashing out next to Mel.


End file.
